During the assembly of commercial aircraft, fasteners referred to as power pins are inserted into pre-drilled holes in a work piece to provide a temporary clamping force on the work piece. For example, the work piece may include multiple panels that are stacked on each other, and the power pins may be inserted through holes in the panels and tightened using a torque gun to secure the panels together during at least one subsequent processing step, such as the application and/or curing of a sealant. The power pins are removed, after the subsequent processing step(s), by loosening the power pins with the torque gun to release the clamp force. Even after loosening the power pins, typically some or all of the power pins may remain in the corresponding holes of the work piece due to engagement with a sealant on the work piece, for example.
The remaining power pins on the work piece are typically manually removed. The removal of each power pin from the work piece requires significant force, such as between about 10 pound-force (lbf) and about 15 lbf. An operator may have to adopt an awkward body posture that includes bending over, reaching overhead, or the like, in order to engage the power pins. Furthermore, some power pins may require more force to remove than other power pins. The operator may increase the force applied to the power pin to a level that risks damaging the work piece. For example, a bent power pin may chip or crack the work piece when the operator removes the power pin with an increased amount of force, requiring the work piece to be repaired and/or discarded.